CABINET  MEETING  IB 

CHARLOTTE. 

by 

Mrs.jas.A.Fore. 

in 

So. Hist. Soc. Papers, 

Sept, 

1916. 

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of  t|>e 

sitp  of  JI3ott& 


Collection  of  jRorti)  Catoliniana 

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of  tfce  Class  of  1889 


Cp  910.1 


<< 


Cabinet  Meeting  in  Charlotte  6i 


CABINET  MEETING  IN  CHARLOTTE. 


Mrs.  JAMES  A.  FORE,  Historian  Stonewall  Chapter,  U.  D.  C, 
Charlotte,  N.  C. 


Fifty  years  ago  in  an  office  which  is  now  that  of  The  Char- 
lotte Daily  Observer,  Jefferson  Davis,  President  of  the  Confed- 
erate States  of  America,  called  together  the  members  of  his  Cab- 
inet in  the  last  full  meeting  of  that  body.  At  that  meeting  it 
was  finally  decided  to  abandon  the  Southern  cause  and  instruc- 
tions were  issued  to  General  Johnston  to  surrender,  and  the 
terms  were  specified  though  these  were  not  accepted.  The  sur- 
render occurred  50  years  ago  to-day. 

In  conclusive  proof  of  this  fact,  of  which  many  are  in  igno- 
rance, The  Observer  is  presenting  herewith  a  paper  by  Mrs.  J.  A. 
Fore,  historian  of  Stonewall  Jackson  Chapter,  United  Daughters 
of  the  Confederacy,  and  read  at  the  State  Convention  in  Tarboro. 
In  reply  to  a  letter  from  her  calling  attention  to  an  error  in  the 
advance  proofs  of  Appleton's  Cyclopedia  relative  to  this  point, 
Prof.  William  E.  Dodd  admits  that  Mrs.  Fore's  contention  is 
right.  A  letter  of  similar  purport  is  from  Junius  Davis,  son  of  a 
member  of  the  Cabinet  who  resigned  in  Charlotte,  spent  some 
time  here  and  later  went  to  Florida.    Mrs.  Fore's  article  follows : 

Miss  Rutherford,  the  historian  general  of  the  United  Daugh- 
ters of  the  Confederacy,  stated  that  three  States  were  claiming 
the  last  official  meeting  of  the  Confederate  Cabinet,  viz:  North 
Carolina  at  Abbeville  and  Georgia  at  Washington. 

The  historian  of  Stonewall  Jackson  Chapter  determined  to 
turn  the  light  on  the  question  and  if  possible  substantiate  Char- 
lotte's claim. 

There  are  many  prominent  citizens  in  Charlotte  who  know 

?!  * 

no 
*) 


62  Southern  Historical  Society  Papers 

the  truth  of  the  matter,  but  their  testimony  seemed  of  no  more 
force  than  that  of  the  citizens  of  Abbeville  or  Washington. 

After  working  for  days  over  old  newspaper  files,  histories  and 
making  inquiries,  the  chapter  historian  decided  to  see  what  Presi- 
dent Jefferson  Davis  had  to  say  in  his  book — "The  Rise  and  Fall 
of  the  Confederacy."  He  settles  the  matter  absolutely  for  Char- 
lotte. 

it  was  the  good  fortune  of  the  writer  to  find  corroborative 
evidence  in  an  article  by  Burton  H.  Harrison,  private  secretary 
to  Mr.  Davis,  published  in  The  Century  Magazine  of  the  date 
of  November,  1883,  and  in  the  papers  or  diary  left  by  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  Stephen  R.  Mallory  of  Confederate  Cabinet,  that 
was  published  in  McClure's  Magazine  of  January,  1901,  which 
evidence  will  be  introduced  first. 

As  to  President  Davis'  and  the  Cabinet's  stay  in  Charlotte, 
Colonel  Harrison  writes :  "Not  far  from  Charlotte  I  sent  forward 
a  letter  to  Major  Echols,  the  quartermaster  of  that  post,  asking 
him  to  inform  Mrs.  Davis  of  our  approach  and  to  provide  quar- 
ters for  as  many  of  us  as  possible.  The  Major  rode  out  to  the 
outskirts  of  the  town  and  there  met  us  with  the  information 
that  Mrs.  Davis  had  hastily  proceeded  toward  South  Carolina 
several  days  before.  He  said  quarters  had  been  found  for  all 
the  party  and  that  Mr.  Davis  would  be  entertained  at  the  house 
of  a  Mr.  Bates  who  was  a  man  of  Northern  birth  and  the  local 
express  agent.  Just  before  we  entered  the  house  Mr.  Davis  re- 
ceived intelligence  that  President  Lincoln  had  been  assassinated 
and  when  he  communicated  it  to  us  everybody's  remark  was  that 
in  Lincoln  the  Southern  States  had  lost  the  only  refuge  in  their 
emergency.  There  was  no  expression  other  than  that  of  sur- 
prise and  regret  and  yet  we  knew  none  of  the  particulars  of  the 
crime." 

Mr.  Davis  has  been  accused  of  giving  voice  to  exultation  at 
the  death  of  Lincoln  and  it  is  thought  that  the  man  Bates  was 
the  falsifier.  "Presently,"  continued  Colonel  Harrison,  "the 
street  was  filled  by  a  column  of  cavalry  commanded  by  Gen. 
Basil  Duke,  of  Kentucky,  just  entering  the  town  and  to  whom 
Mr.  Davis  made  a  brief  reply  to  calls  for  a  speech." 


Cabinet  Meeting  in  Charlotte  63 

Col.  John  Taylor  Wood,  Col.  William  Preston  Johnston,  and 
Col.  Frank  Lubbock,  staff  officers,  remained  in  Bates'  house  with 
the  President.  I  was  carried  off  by  my  Hebrew  friend,  Weill, 
and  most  kindly  entertained  with  Mr.  Benjamin  and  St.  Martin 
at  his  residence. 

On  Sunday  a  number  of  us  attended  service  at  the  Episcopal 
Church. 

Mr.  George  Davis,  the  Attorney  General,  was  entertained 
by  Mr.  William  Myers,  father  of  Mr.  Jack  Myers,  at  the  old 
Myer's  home  on  East  avenue,  and  Mr.  Trenholm,  who  was  ill, 
at  the  home  of  Mr.  William  Phifer  on  .North  Tryon  street. 

In  the  material  collected  from  different  sources,  there  will 
necessarily  be  some  repetition  of  the  data.  The  historian  wished 
to  have  the  testimony  of  as  many  as  possible  of  those  who  took 
part  in  that  memorable  drama  of  April,  1865. 

McClure's  Magazine  of  January,  1901,  published  the  diary 
or  papers  left  by  the  Secretary  of  Confederate  Navy,  Mr.  Ste- 
phen R.  Mallory,  written  while  in  prison  in  1865  in  Fort  Lafay- 
ette, New  York  Harbor.  Mr.  Mallory  writes:  "On  the  16th  of 
April  the  President,  his  staff  and  the  Cabinet  left  Greensboro  to 
proceed  still  further.  In  leaving  Greensboro,  Mr.  Reagen,  Mr. 
Breckenridge  and  Mr.  Mallory  rode  with  Mr.  Davis  and  his  three 
aides  on  horse  back,  and  Mr.  Trenholm,  Mr.  George  Davis  and 
Mr.  Benjamin,  the  three  other  members  of  the  Cabinet,  were  in 
an  ambulance  with  General  Cooper  and  other  military  officers." 
Mr.  Mallory  states  they  stopped  one  night  in  Lexington  and  one 
in  Concord  and  that  they  were  guests  in  Concord  of  Mrs.  Victor 
Barringer,  who  was  exceedingly  kind  to  them.  Mrs.  Rufus  Bar- 
ringer,  widow  of  General  Barringer,  says  that  while  there  each 
one  of  the  Cabinet  signed  his  name  on  the  fly  leaf  of  a  copy  of 
"Rasselas,"  and  that  Dr.  Paul  Barringer  of  Virginia  has  that 
copy  in  his  possession  now. 

Mr.  Mallory  continues :  "On  the  following  day  we  rode  into 
Charlotte.  Here  the  Confederate  Government  had  several  public 
establishments,  many  local  officers  and  arrangements  had  been 
made  for  the  accommodation  of  Mr.  Davis  and  his  Cabinet  at 
private  houses.     They  were  received  and  treated  with  the  ut- 


64  Southern  Historical  Society  Papers 

most  courtesy.  The  party  remained  in  Charlotte  about  a  week." 
He  then  gives  the  same  account  that  Mr.  Davis  does  in  the  "Rise 
and  Fall,"  continuing  that  after  Johnston  accepted  Sherman's 
terms  in  the  time  agreed  upon,  "No  other  course  seemed  open 
to  Mr.  Davis  but  to  leave  the  country  and  his  immediate  advisers 
urged  him  to  do  so." 

I  shall  give  the  extracts  from  Mr.  Davis'  "Rise  and  Fall  of 
the  Confederacy,"  from  which  authority  there  is  no  appeal.  All 
writers  on  the  War  Between  the  States  since  its  publication  use 
it  as  the  basis  of  their  material.  As  he  was  the  person  most  con- 
cerned in  the  retreat  from  Richmond,  his  word  in  the  very  nature 
of  the  case  is  absolutely  correct. 

On  pages  682  and  683 — second  volume,  he  says:  "After  it 
had  been  decided  that  General  Johnston  should  attempt  negotia- 
tions with  General  Sherman,  he  left  for  his  army  headquarters 
and  I  proceeded  with  my  Cabinet  and  staff  toward  Charlotte, 
N.  C." 

"We  arrived  at  Charlotte  on  April  18  and  I  there  received 
on  dismouting  a  telegram  announcing  that  President  Lincoln  had 
been  assassinated.  An  influential  citizen  of  the  town  (Col.  Wil- 
liam Johnston),  who  had  come  to  welcome  me,  was  standing  near 
me  and  after  remarking  to  him  in  a  low  voice  that  I  had  received 
sad  intelligence,  I  handed  him  the  telegram.  The  man  who  in- 
vented the  story  of  my  having  received  the  news  with  exultation 
had  free  scope  for  his  imagination  as  he  was  not  present."  This 
man,  evidently  was  Bates  who  betrayed  the  guest  whom  he  had 
invited  to  his  home. 

Page  688 — "I  therefore,  with  the  concurrence  of  my  Con- 
stitutional advisers,  addressed  General  Johnston  as  follows."  This 
letter  is  dated  April  24,  1865,  authorizing  General  Johnston  to 
enter  into  negotiations  with  General  Sherman  as  to  terms  of  sur- 
render. 

Page  689 — "General  Johnston  communicated  to  me  the  rejec- 
tion of  basis  of  agreement  on  the  part  of  United  States  and  a  not- 
ice from  General  Sherman  of  termination  of  the  armistice  in  48 
hours  after  noon  of  April  24,  1865.    General  Johnston  asked  for 


Cabinet  Meeting  at  Charlotte  65 

instructions."  He  (President  Davis)  herewith  sent  instructions 
to  General  Johnston  which  he  says  were  disobeyed. 

On  the  same  page  President  Davis  continues :  "After  the  ex- 
piration of  the  armistice,  I  rode  out  of  Charlotte  attended  by  the 
members  of  my  Cabinet  (except  Attorney  General  Davis,  who 
had  gone  to  see  his  family  residing  in  that  section,  and  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Trenholm,  who  was  too  ill  to  accom- 
pany me),  my  personal  staff  and  the  cavalry,  representing  six 
brigades,  numbering  about  2,000." 

Page  694 — "I  crossed  (the  Savannah  River)  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  4th  of  May.  When  I  reached  Washington,  Ga., 
the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Benjamin,  parted  from  me  to  take 
another  route.  At  Washington,  Ga.,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
Mr.  Mallory,  left  me  to  attend  to  the  needs  of  his  family. 

"The  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Breckenridge,  had  remained 
with  the  cavalry  at  the  crossing  of  the  Savannah  River."  Mr. 
Reagen,  the  Postmaster  General, was  the  only  one  of  the  Cabinet 
who  was  in  Washington  with  Mr.  Davis  and  was  captured  with 
him  soon  afterward. 

It  is  established  beyond  a  doubt  that  Mr.  Davis  and  his 
Cabinet  were  here  in  Charlotte  for  eight  days  from  the  18th  of 
April  to  the  26th  and  that  when  he  left  here  Attorney  General 
Davis  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Trenholm,  did  not 
accompany  him,  therefore,  a  full  Cabinet  could  not  have  been 
held  afterward  anywhere.  That  while  here  the  last  deliberations 
of  the  Confederacy  took  place  and  that  the  surrender  of  John- 
ston's army,  consisting  of  89,272  men  (see  "Rise  and  Fall"),  was 
decided  on  at  Charlotte  and  that  with  this  surrender  the  Con- 
federate Government  ceased  to  exist.  The  expiration  of  the 
armistice  on  the  26th  of  April  meant  the  surrender  and  when 
President  Davis  reached  Abbeville,  S.  C,  there  were  only  four 
Cabinet  members  of  the  defacto  Government  with  him.  There 
was  no  more  State  business  transacted  after  leaving  Charlotte. 

If  there  had  been  a  meeting  of  any  importance  to  the  Con- 
federacy in  Abbeville,  S.  C,  Mr.  Davis  or  Secretary  Mallory 
would  have  mentioned  it.  The  only  allusion  to  a  meeting  of  any 
kind  is  mentioned  by  Pollard  in  his  "Life  of  Jefferson  Davis." 


66  Southern  Historical  Society  Papers 

He  says  it  was  composed  of  the  five  brigade  generals  who  com- 
manded Mr.  Davis'  escort,  and  General  Bragg.  At  this  council 
the  disbandment  of  the  troops  was  decided  upon  because  the 
men  were  deserting  at  every  cross-roads  to  go  to  their  homes, 
contending  that  the  war  had  ended  anyway.  Mr.  Mallory  con- 
firms Pollard  by  saying,  "In  i\bbeville  the  officers  of  the  escort 
candidly  apprised  Mr.  Davis  that  they  could  not  depend  upon  the 
men,  that  they  regarded  the  struggle  as  over."  Colonel  Harrison 
also  states  that  when  they  left  Abbeville  the  party  only  consisted 
of  some  wagons,  several  ambulances  and  only  150  cavalry,  in 
contrast  with  Mr.  Davis'  assertion  that  the  escort  consisted  of 
2,000  cavalry  under  five  brigade  generals,  when  they  left  Char- 
lotte. 

While  the  Cabinet  was  in  Charlotte  the  official  meeting  place 
was  in  The  Observer  building  in  the  editorial  room  used  by  Mr. 
J.  P.  Caldwell.  It  was  at  that  time  the  directors'  room  of  the 
bank,  of  which  Mr.  Dewey  was  president  and  who  lived  upstairs 
ever  the  bank. 

Mrs.  John  Wilkes,  who  was  a  resident  of  Charlotte  at  that 
time,  writes  in  The  Charlotte  News  of  June  1,  1910:  "For  a  few 
days  this  was  the  Capital  of  the  Confederate  States.  The  last  de- 
liberations and  Cabinet  consultations  were  held  in  the  building 
now   occupied  by  the   Charlotte   Observer,  then  the  bank." 

The  fact  remains,  however,  that  the  last  full  meeting  was 
held  at  the  home  of  Mr.  William  Phifer  in  the  sick  room  of  Mr. 
Trenholm,  who  was  ill  on  his  arrival  in  Charlotte  and  was  taken 
directly  to  Mr.  Phifer's  house  and  tenderly  nursed  by  the  family 
during  the  stay  there. 

Mr.  William  Phifer,  in  Dr.  J.  B.  Alexander's  History  of 
Mechlenburg  County,  says,  "The  last  full  meeting  of  the  Con- 
federate Cabinet  (and  in  the  recollection  of  the  writer  all  were 
present)  was  held  in  the  west  room  upstairs  in  the  house  now 
owned  by  Mr.  William  Holt.  The  cause  of  its  meeting  there  was 
the  fact  that  Mr.  Trenholm,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was 
ill  and  confined  to  bed."  He  remained  in  the  Phifer  home  sev- 
eral days  after  President  Davis  and  the  other  members  of  the 
Cabinet  left  Charlotte. 


Cabinet  Meeting  at  Charlotte  67 

The  older  members  of  this  family  remember  well  the  dif- 
ferent Cabinet  officers  who  came  singly  and  in  twos  to  visit  the 
sick  Secretary. 

They  also  have  vivid  recollections  of  the  flutter  of  excitement 
created  in  the  household  when  word  came  that  there  was  to  be  a 
meeting  of  the  Cabinet  in  Mr.  Trenholm's  room,  just  a  short 
while  before  their  departure  for  the  Southwest.  They  remember 
seeing  these  distinguished  men,  bowed  in  sorrow  come  in  a  body 
and  pass  into  the  sick  room  to  confer  together  on  the  last  mo- 
mentous concerns  of  the  "Lost  Cause." 

Both  of  these  places  are  interesting  for  the  reason  that  the 
terms  of  the  surrender  of  Johnston's  army  was  decided  on  in 
The  Observer  building  and  the  meeting  in  the  Phifer  house  was 
where  the  notice  of  the  expiration  of  the  armistice  was  made 
known  to  the  Cabinet,  and  the  final  instructions  sent  to  General 
Johnston,  where  the  further  flight  of  the  President  was  decided 
upon,  and  where  the  final  good-byes  were  said  to  the  two  Cabinet 
officers  who  remained  in  Charlotte. 

It  is  a  matter  of  satisfaction  to  the  people  of  Charlotte  that 
President  Davis,  Secretary  Mallory  and  Col.  Burton  Harrison 
have  confirmed  the  well-known  local  fact  that  the  last  full  Cabi- 
net meetings  were  held  here  and  that  Charlotte  was  indeed  the 
Capital  of  the  Confederate  States  for  a  period  of  eight  days. 

Mrs.  James  A.  Fore, 
Historian  Stonezvall  Jackson  Chapter,  U.  D.  C. 

Life  of  Vance — Dowd.  Page  469. — Speech  in  the  United 
States  Senate  "Before  its  return  Raleigh  was  uncovered  and  I 
had  left  to  join  Mr.  Davis  at  Charlotte,  where  the  surrender  of 
General  Johnston  was  authorized  and  the  finality  of  things 
brought  about."  Addenda. 


68  Southern  Historical  Society  Papers 


THE  HON.  THEODORE  S.  GARNETT. 


Address  before  Virginia  Historical  Society 
by  Capt.  W.  GORDON  McCABE. 


It  is  only  becoming  that  in  the  "Minutes"  of  the  Society 
there  should  be  some  record,  however  halting,  of  those  who  were 
not  only  knit  to  us  by  ties  of  long  and  intimate  friendship,  but 
whose  loyalty  to  this  association  never  wavered  when  our  skies 
were  not  so  bright  as  they  are  to-day. 

Foremost  among  these  is  Judge  Theodore  S.  Garnett  of 
Norfolk,  the  only  name,  indeed,  stricken  from  the  roll  of  Life 
Membership,  yet  a  loss  of  such  grievous  import  to  the  community 
and  Commonwealth,  to  the  profession  and  to  the  ancient  com- 
munion to  which  he  belonged,  as  well  as  to  a  large  circle  of 
kinsmen,  comrades,  and  friends,  that  it  is  difficult  to  speak  of 
this  daring  soldier,  learned  jurist  and  humble-minded  Christian, 
this  most  lovable  and  most  loyal  of  friends,  save  in  terms  which 
to  those  who  did  not  enjoy  the  privilege  of  his  intimate  friend- 
ship must  savor  of  rhetorical  extravagance. 

But  in  this  presence,  at  least,  where  so  many  of  you  knew 
him  as  he  was,  one  need  not  fear  that  imputation.  The  mis- 
giving is,  rather,  that  you  will  deem  the  outline  blurred  by  excess 
of  caution  and  repression. 

Living  slightly  beyond  the  Psalmist's  limit  of  three  score 
years  and  ten,  his  career  was  a  busy  and  beneficent  one  to  the 
end,  and  though,  speaking  with  rigorous  exactness,  it  was  in 
the  main  uneventful,  yet  not  a  few  honors  came  to  him  as  the 
years  went  by,  and,  as  he  himself  loved  most  to  remember,  in 
"the  May  of  youth  and  bloom  of  lustihood"  he  had  known  many 
a  "crowded  hour  of  glorious  life,"  and  had,  on  field  of  battle, 
won  the  plaudits  of  grizzled  veterans  ere  the  down  was  on  his 
cheek.     So  strenuous  indeed  was  his  life  from  early  boyhood, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00032725926 

FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


